REPORT 

ON 

EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS, SCHOOL INCENTIVES, 
TIME LIMITS AND SCHOOL SESSIONS, INDUSTRIAL 
TRAINING, SPECIAL' CLASSES FOR DELINQUENTS 
AND DEFECTIVES, SCHOOLS FOR TRUANTS, . . 



BY 



John T. Prince, 

Agent OF the Board. 



Repkinted fkom the Seventt-fikst Report of the JS^Issachusetts Boakd of 

Education. ^ 




liW"*"' 



REPORT 

ON . 

EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS, SCHOOL INCENTIVES, 
TIME LIMITS AND SCHOOL SESSIONS, INDUSTRIAL 
TRAINING, SPECIAL CLASSES FOR DELINQUENTS 
AND DEFECTIVES, SCHOOLS FOR TRUANTS, . . 



John T. Prince, 

Agent of the Board. 



Reprinted from the Seventy-first Report of the Massachusetts Board of 

Education. 






D. 0^0. 

AUG 1 ^908. 



REPORT 



To the Board of Education. 

My time during the past year has been given mainly to the 
inspection of schools of all kinds in various sections of the 
Commonwealth, to attendance upon teachers' institutes and other 
educational meetings, and to an inspection of the county truant 
schools and of the special schools for defectives and delinquents 
supported partly or wholly by the State. 

Educational Conditions. 

Slate Aid. — In my last report I spoke at some length (1) 
of the great improvement which had been made in the smaller 
towns of the Commonwealth on account of skilled supervision, 
made universal and obligatory by law, and (2) of the improved 
character of the teaching force, made possible to many towns 
by increased aid from the State. I also spoke of the unequal 
and in some respects unfair distribution of the State school 
fund, showing that while a few towns were receiving more 
money from the State than they could use to advantage, many 
of the towns were left without the assistance which they needed 
to secure trained teachers. My observation during the past 
year has confirmed me in all these impressions. 

The benefits of increased aid have been so marked in the case 
of some towns that the wisdom of a further or wider extension 
of assistance should no longer be questioned, at least up to the 
point of giving aid to those towns which tax themselves for 
schools to the utmost, and which nevertheless are not able to 
employ the best teachers. The greatest need of State aid is by 
no means confined to the smaller towns ; indeed, in many cases 
the smaller towns are now better off than larger ones of low 
valuation. To make clearer my meaning I will cite the case of 
two towns of a superintendency union recently visited. The 



smaller of tlie towns has 6 schools and about 125 pupils, — the 
teachers receiving from $10 to $12 a week. The larger town 
has about 550 pupils, with 19 teachers, who receive an average 
of about $9 a week. And yet these two tovsms receive practi- 
cally the same amount of aid from the State. 

It is true that in this instance the smaller town's local school 
tax is relatively more than that of the larger town, — a fact 
which should be considered in an equitable division of the State 
school fund. But that this principle is not sufficiently consid- 
ered in all cases may be shown by such an example as Middle- 
field, in Hampshire County, which raises but $6.25 per pupil 
for schools, and which receives more from the State than the 
adjoining town of Chester, which raises $15.77 per pupil, and 
this in spite of the fact that the latter town has nearly twice as 
many schools as the former. 

What is needed is a larger State school fund, and such a dis- 
tribution of it that all the tovnis will be able, without a burden- 
some local tax, to pay the teachers a fair living salary. At pres- 
ent there are many teachers in the public schools who receive less 
for their service than factory operatives receive or girls in do- 
mestic service. From the returns of 1906-07 it appears that 
there are 41 towns in which the average salary of teachers is less 
than $9 a week, and 9 towns in which the average salary is less 
than $8 a week. It should be impossible in an enlightened Com- 
monwealth for such meager salaries to be paid to teachers, or 
for teaching service to be demanded which is rated at so low a 
value. A law might be passed binding towns to pay teachers 
for full-time service at least $10 a week, and making the finan- 
cial conditions such that this limit can be met by the poorest 
to-svns without undue burden.^ 

Normal Graduates. — During the past year there has been a 
relative increase in the number of normal graduates employed 
as teachers in the public schools, the increase in the number of 

1 According to a statement recently received from tlie office of the Commissioner of Edu- 
cation, laws relating to the minimum salaries of public school teachers have been passed 
in Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Daliota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and 
West Virginia. 

In Pennsylvania the law provides that the salary of teachers in districts receiving State 
appropriation shall not be less than $50 a month when the teacher holds a professional, per- 
manent or normal school certificate, has had two years' practice and presents a certificate 
of proficiency from his superintendent. For all teachers holding certificates of less grade 
the minimum salary shall be $40. — Laws of Pennsylvania, 1907, No. 249. 



such graduates over last year being 3^ per cent., while the 
increase in the number of teachers required was only 2 per cent. 
It is gratifying to know that this increase of trained teachers, 
though small, is greater than the average yearly increase of such 
teachers during the past ten years. If we look closely, to see 
where the professionally trained teachers go, we find that they 
go largely to the cities and larger towns rather than to those 
places that need them most. This fact is an added reason for 
increasing the salaries of teachers in towns not able at present 
to secure the services of normal graduates. 

School Incentives. 

One evidence of the professional advance of teachers has been 
the gradual lessening of a reliance upon artificial means of se- 
curing the interest and attention of pupils to the work of the 
schools. This is especially noticeable in respect to the misuse 
of examinations, and to the marking and ranking of pupils. A 
generation ago it was not uncommon to find examinations for 
promotion in all grades of graded schools. Teachers also at 
that time were frequently found marking the daily recitations 
of their pupils, and seating them at the end of every month 
according to their rank in the class. But all this has changed ; 
so much so that there remain but few places where examinations 
alone count for promotion in the grades, or where teachers of 
grammar schools are expected or allowed to mark the daily 
recitations of their pupils. The matter appears to be somewhat 
different in a large number of high schools. In these schools 
examinations and marks seem to be authorized, or else are per- 
mitted without protest. 

The difference of attitude on the part of these two classes of 
teachers towards examinations and marks may be accounted 
for in part by the fact that there are more professionally trained 
teachers in the grammar schools than in the high, and possibly 
also by the fact that the college influence and practice is felt less 
in one class of schools than in the other. But whatever the cause 
of the difference of practice the fact remains that many of the 
best teachers in all grades of schools are able to teach and 
train well without the use of artificial stimulants of any kind. 

My chief purpose for referring to the matter of incentives 



6 

at this time is to call attention to what appears to be a renewal 
of earlier practices on the part of a few young teachers and 
snpetintendents in relation to examinations for promotion and 
daily marking, and to present in brief form some reasons why 
these practices are detrimental to the highest interests of the 
pupils. 

In the first place there are certain analogies between feeding 
and training the body and feeding and training the mind which 
it is useful for all to consider who hare anything to do with 
educating the young. "What shall we say of the use of stimulants 
as a means of awakening, activity ? We know that the body in 
a normal state does not need them. ISTo more does the mind. 
The mind no less than the body has in health a natural hunger 
for that which it most needs. If the taste in either case has not 
been perverted there will be no need of any artificial stimulant 
to insure a ready and glad reception of the food offered so 
long as the food is of the right kind and is properly presented. 
Indeed, artificial stimulants tend to destroy a natural appetite 
and to interfere with processes of digestion. By inducing the 
pupils to work for high marks or prizes there is seemingly an 
increase of interest, but it is not a direct interest in the subject- 
matter studied. There is acquired, instead, a habit of working 
only under stress of competition or of a position of distinction 
in the class. 

Another 'objection to the marking of daily recitations is the 
danger of doing violence to the pupil's sense of justice, whether 
the mark is one of credit for actual achievement or a mark for 
effort. Pupils differ so in their powers that what may stand 
as a mark of credit to one pupil may be a mark of discredit to 
another, and no teacher can possibly measure by marks the de- 
gree of effort which any pupil may make. 

Besides all this, a teacher is kept from giving proper atten- 
tion to the presentation of a lesson, or to questioning, if his 
mind is absorbed in estimating the value of each pupil's per- 
formance. 

A recent instance of the folly of marking the recitation of 
pupils comes to mind. Two divisions of a ninth grade in history 
were put in competition for a month at a time, each pupil's 
daily recitation being marked by the teacher. The questions 



were written upon the blackboard, and framed in such a way 
as to permit the answers to be easily marked. There was a cer- 
tain kind of interest excited in this contest, but the interest 
could hardly be said to be historical. In this case — girls 
against boys — it was partly, at least, an interest in seeing 
which sex would win, and partly, perhaps, in trying to get the 
promised extra hour of freedom at the end of the month. 

Examinations for promotion or for reports to parents, when 
given by some one other than the teacher, are attended by results 
which are, perhaps, less harmful to individual pupils than to 
the quality of the teaching as a whole. To be entirely fair the 
examiner feels obliged to confine his questions largely to the 
material found within certain limits of the regular text-book. 
The teacher takes note of this fact and governs himself accord- 
ingly. The result is memoriter and text-book grind of the worst 
kind. I recall a marked instance of work of this kind in a 
suburban grammar school some time ago. The subject was 
geography, and the lesson was a portion of a page recited over 
and over by the pupils, largely in the words of the book. When 
I asked the teacher if she thought that was a proper way to 
teach the subject, she replied : '^ 'No, I do not ; but there is an 
examination in the subject every month by the principal, and 
the results reported to the school board determine the promotion 
of the pupils. I have reason to believe that a teacher's reten- 
tion depends upon the results of these examinations, and as I 
have a family to support I do not propose to run any risks." 
Who could, under the circumstances, blame that teacher for 
poor work ? 

Examinations may have their place and perhaps marking 
and reporting have their place, but when they tend to prevent 
pupils from thinking for themselves, or force the pupils to 
dislike the subject studied, and especially when they divert the 
interest of the pupils from the real ends of the subjects studied, 
they should be forever banished from the school. 

Time Limits and School Sessions. 
Difficulties of a serious nature are found to exist in making 
a course of studies under present conditions. Over and over 
again we hear the criticism that the schools teach nothing thor- 



8 

oiighly, and as frequently we hear the defence from school au- 
thorities that there is no time to do more. It is plain to see 
how the difficulty has arisen. Fifty years ago but four or five 
subjects were taught in the schools, and there were six hours 
a day to teach them in, with an extra half day on Saturday. 
Later, the half-day session on Saturday was given up, and the 
time of the afternoon session was reduced to two hours. Then 
came the giving up of recesses and an earlier closing in conse- 
quence. In the mean time, the number of subjects doubled and 
trebled, but the length of session remained as before, even with 
the restoration of recesses. Thus it is that in many places all 
the exercises of the school, including physical exercises and 
recesses, are crowded into daily sessions which occupy only four 
and three-quarters hours of time. Even this time is shortened 
in some places by having only a forenoon session, leaving the 
afternoon free for home study and recreation. 

Under such circumstances it is no wonder that it is found 
difficult to make a place in the program for industrial training, 
which is now demanding admittance into the school, and which, 
from the nature of the subject, must inevitably consume much 
time. 

I can see no way out of the difficulty except by considerably 
lengthening the school sessions. If exercises in manual or 
industrial training are to be given daily, as many wise edu- 
cators advocate, and if more time is to be given to the plays 
and games of children, the school day should be increased to 
six hours. That this time is not unreasonable, and that it can 
be easily brought about, with the hearty approval of parents 
and pupils, is sho\vn by the experience of one of our own nor- 
mal practice schools. When from experience the desirability 
of having industrial work in all grades became manifest to 
all concerned, the plan of prolonging the daily sessions one 
hour was proposed, and with practical unanimity it was cor- 
dially approved by the patrons of the school. At first, attend- 
ance upon the industrial exercises was optional, but as a matter 
of fact nearly every pupil chose to attend, until now both the 
extended time and enlarged program are accepted by all with- 
out question. In some such way as this the introduction into 
the course of new and desirable subjects of study may be made. 



Several inquiries have come to me recently as to standards 
of time for each study ,of the school. In a special report 
upon a course of studies a fevs^ years ago, I made a careful 
study of conditions and practices in various sections of this and 
other countries, and as a result I suggested certain approximate 
percentages of time to be given to each of five groups of studies. 
The follov^ing table is a revision of the percentages given in 
that report, due allowance being made for the introduction of 
industrial training : — 

Table showing the approximate percentage, in a proposed course of 
studies, of the entire recitation time of a pupil or group of 
pupils spent in I. Language (including reading, writing, spell- 
ing, composition, English grammar and literature and a for- 
eign language), II. Mathematics {including arithmetic, al- 
gebra, geometry and hookheeping) , III. Elementary science 
{including nature study, physiology , hygiene and geography) , 
IV. History {including civil government, biography and his- 
tory proper), V. Miscellaneous Exercises {including singing, 
draiving and manual training). 





GROUPS OF STUDIES. 


Sub- 
pri- 
mary. 


Grade 
1. 


Grade 
2. 


Grade 
3. 


Grade 
4. 


Grade 


Grade 


Grade 
7. 


Grade 

8. 


I. 


Language, .... 


30 


40 


40 


35 


30 


25 


25 


25 


25 


II. 


Mathematics, 


.T 


10 


10 


15 


15 


15 


15 


15 


15 


III. 


Science, .... 


•20 


10 


10 


15 


15 


•20 


20 


15 


15 


IV. 


History 


10 


10 


10 


10 


15 


15 


15 


20 


•20 


V. 


Miscellaneous, 


351 


30 


30 


'25 


•25 


25 


25 


25 


25 




1 














o-inff. 


Irawii 


iz anc 


1 con- 



struction work. 



The following table gives the number of minutes weekly 
which may be given to each group of subjects, using the previous 
table of percentages as a basis, and allowing six hours for the 
school day : — 



10 



Time program, showing the number of. minutes a wccJc spent in 
recitation by a pupil or group of pupils in five groups of sub- 
jects; also the number of minutes a week given to opening 
exercises and recesses and to study in school. 



GROUPS OF STUDIES. 


Sub- 
pri- 
mary. 1 


Grade 
1. 


Grade 
3. 


Grade 
3. 


Grade 
4. 


Grade Grade 
5. 6. 


Grade 


Grade 
8. 


I. Language, .... 


3(50 


60S 


608 


539 


462 


390 


390 


390 


390 


II. Mathematics, 


tiO 


152 


l.r2 


231 


231 


234 


234 


234 


234 


III. Science, .... 


240 


152 


152 


231 


231 


312 


312 


234 


234 


IV. History 


120 


152 


152 


154 


231 


234 


234 


312 


312 


V. Miscellaneous, 


4202 


456 


456 


385 


385 


390 


390 


390 


390 


Opening exercises, physical 
exercises and recesses, . 


-. 


280 


280 


2(;o 


260 


240 


240 


240 


240 


Total school time, . 


1,200 


1,800 


1,800 


1,800 


1,800 


1,800 


1,800 


1,800 


1,800 


Study, 3 


- 


425 


425 


440- 


440 


450 


450 


450 


450 



1 Figures in this column indicate the number of minutes spent in recitation and seat 
work taken together. 

- Including opening exercises, physical exercises, games, singing, drawing and con- 
struction work. 

s The lime for study is given upon the supposition that in some subjects the class is 
divided into two sections, one section studying wliile the other section is reciting. 



The above table is given upon the presumption that the school 
day is divided into two sessions of equal length. For some 
reasons it might be well to put the more intellectual studies 
into a morning session of four hours, and all the music, drawing 
and industrial training into an afternoon session of two hours. 
Time for a study period might also be given in the afternoon. 
In some communities it might be desirable to make attendance 
upon this short afternoon session optional. But the program 
made up in the way proposed would be so attractive that few 
would deny themselves the privilege of attending. 



Industrial Tkaining. 
Scope. - — The term industrial training is used in different 
ways by speakers and writers. By some it is used simply as 
manual training, which generally includes, as the name indi- 
cates, only hand training in such work as sloyd, whittling, sew- 
ing and cardboard construction. Some persons mean by indus- 
trial training that training which directly prepares one for a 



11 

vocation or trade, — a training which is intended to take the 
place of the old time apprentice work, now well nigh abandoned. 
So interpretefl, the term industrial training would not essen- 
tially differ from what we commonly mean by vocational train- 
ing, or the training which is acquired in ordinary trade schools. 

The term industrial training should, I believe, have a far 
wider application than to mere handwork or to preparation 
for a trade. It should apply to all that is done in the school 
or elsewhere to promote industrial efficiency and a true spirit 
of service. With this view the industrial training of the ele- 
mentary school is as important as the subsequent training car- 
ried on in the direct interests of a vocation. Indeed, the broader 
training may be more important, because by it all classes of 
children are reached, and the dangers of too early specialization 
are voided. Much as we may learn from European jjractices 
along industrial lines of training, it will be worse than folly 
tq assume, in making our programs, as they do in some parts of 
Europe, that the vocation of the man or woman is fixed in early 
childhood, and that therefore a certain kind of training will be 
provided for one class of children and a quite different kind for 
another class. AVe boast of the privileges of opportunity offered 
to immigrants from abroad. We should be equally considerate 
of our children. The earliest age at which the boy or girl needs 
to make a choice of vocation, which will be in any way a guide 
for training, is fourteen years; and even for two years after 
that time the training should not be such as to prevent a change 
of vocational purpose and a consequent change of training. 

In another respect I believe we should not folloAv too closely 
European practices. The choice is given us in industrial train- 
ing of making the shop the center of interest and effort, or of 
making the school the center. I believe that up to the age of 
eighteen years at least the youth's interests, vocational and cul- 
tural, will be best served if he makes the school the center rather 
than the shop. The making of the man is of far greater im- 
portance than the making of the workman, although it is true 
that that which makes the best workman frequently makes the 
best man. The likelihood of success, however, in reaching both 
of these desirable ends is, I believe, greater for the industrialized 
pupil than for the schooled apprentice. This does not mean 



12 

that- there should not be a close correlation of industrial and cul- 
tural studies in the high school, nor that the center of correlation 
should not be industrial work. jSTor does it mean that trade 
schools and courses should not be provided for the special aid of 
workmen of every kind. It means only that, instead of sending 
our boys and girls into shops with the expectation that they will 
supplement their work by study, we shall provide for them indus- 
trial and commercial high schools and courses, such that while 
they are fitting themselves to become efficient workers in some 
useful calling they can take at the same time studies that will 
help them to become intelligent citizens and useful members of 
society. 

Industrial training as thus interpreted begins early, and con- 
tinues somewhat the same for all pupils up to the age of fourteen 
years. After that time special training may be giveij. along lines 
which will best prepare them for vocational service. 

Extent and Kinds. — In the sixty-ninth report of the Board 
of Education, pages 97-103, there were given the names of the 
cities and to^vns in the Commonwealth which were giving in- 
struction in some forms of manual training in high and gram- 
mar schools. Recent returns from superintendents show that 
the work has been increased and extended in some of the places, 
and that it has been introduced in many others. The list of 
cities and towns in which instruction in manual training is now 
maintained is as follows : — 

Cities and Towns maintaining Instructioii in Manual Training. 

[Note. — "G" at the right of the names means grammar schools, "H" means high 
schools and " E " means evening schools.] 



List A. 



Boston, G, H, E. 
Brockton, H. 
Brookline, G, H, E. 
Cambridge, G, H, E. 
Chelsea, G, H. 
Fall River, H. 
Fitchburg, G, H. 
Haverhill, G, H. 
Holyoke, H. 
Lawrence, G, H. 
Lowell, G, H, E. 
Lynn, G, H, E. 



Maiden, G, H. 
New Bedford, G, E. 
Newton, G. 
North Adams, G. 
Quincy, G, H. 
Salem, G, H. 
Somerville, G, H. 
Springfield, G, H, E. 
Taimton, G, H. 
Waltham, G, H. 
Worcester, G, H, E. 



13 



List B. 



Amherst, G. 
Andover, G, H. 
Arlington, G, H. 
Athol, G. 
Attleborough, G. 
Ayer, G. 
Bedford, G. 
Belmont, G. 
Beverly, G, H. 
Braintree, G. 
Concord, G, H. 
Dedham, G. 
Easton, G. 
Everett, G. 
Fairhaven, G, H. 
Framingham, G. 
Gardner, G, II. 
Great Barrington, G. 
Greenfield, G. 
Hopkinton, G, II. 
Hyde Park, G. 
Hudson, G, H. 
Lancaster, G, H. 
Leominster, G, H. 
Lexington, G. 
Leyden, G. 
Manchester, G, H. 
Marblehead, G. 
Marlborough, G. 
Medford, G, H. 



Melrose, G. 
Milton, G, H. 
Methuen, G. 
Montague, G. 
Nantucket, G, H. 
Natick, G, H. 
Needham, G. 
Northfield, G. 
Plymouth, G. 
Petersham, G, H. 
Princeton, G, H. 
Reading, G. 
South Hadley, G. 
Stoneham, G. 
Swampscott, H. 
Wakefield, G. 
Walpole, G. 
Ware, G. 
Watertown, G. 
Wellesley, G, H. 
West Boylston, G. 
Westfield, G. 
Weston, G. 
Westwood, G. 
Williamstown, G. 
Winchendon, G. 
Winchester, G 
Winthrop, G. 
Wrentham, G. 
Yarmouth, G, II. 



The list marked A above includes the names of cities and 
towns which have more than 20,000 inhabitants, and which 
are, therefore, required by law to give instruction in manual 
training in both elementary and high schools. 

All the other towns (list B) maintain some form of manual 
training, although they are not required by law to do so. Satis- 
factory as this showing is, it does not give an adequate idea 
of all that is done in industrial education in the State at large. 
It does not tell of the construction work in paper, clay, raffia, 
etc., which is done in the primary and the grammar schools 
all over the State in connection with the work in drawing. It 
does not tell of the excellent and widely extended work done 



14 

in gardening in many of the larger as well as smaller towns. 
It does not take any account of what is done in one or two 
schools of a town, or of plans made and carried out in the 
model and practice schools connected with the State normal 
schools. 

From the mass of information sent to me by superintendents 
and teachers of industrial training, I will select and present 
some outlines of work done which may be of special interest. 

Model and Practice Schools. — As would naturally be ex- 
pected, some of the best instruction in industrial training is 
being, done in the model and practice schools connected with 
the State normal schools. The work here is carefully planned 
for all grades of elementary schools as a means of training for 
students in the normal schools. The plan of instruction is 
worked out from somewhat different points of view, and is on 
this account all the more interesting. The work done in these 
schools is important because it serves as a kind of model for 
superintendents and teachers in general, and because it is the 
kind of work which present teachers in training will be likely 
to carry on in their schools. For these reasons it seems well 
to give a brief statement of the plan which is followed in each 
school. 

1. Bridgewater. 
We are experimenting in turn with various materials, to find the 
value and place of each in the child's life. 

We believe that original thought and skilled labor are essential to 
industrial progress. Hence, our problems present to the child : — • 

1. Opportunities for the original designing and the making of ob- 
jects to meet definite needs. 

2. A series of progressive steps leading to technical mastery. 
These methods are elastic and used with due regard for schoolroom 

conditions and for the age and interests of the child. These ideas, 
however, serve as the point of departure. 

A. — A Course in Art. 
[Outline eliowing the place of the industrial element in the complete course of art study.] 

Main Groups. 

1. The fine arts, — primarily an expression of and ai:)i5eal to the 

spiritual nature of man. 

2. The industrial arts, — intended to beautify useful objects. 



15 

Forms of Art Expression. 

Pictorial: in the fine arts, — painting; in the industrial arts, — 
illustration. 

Decorative : in the fine arts, — painting and sculpture ; in the in- 
dustrial arts, — decorative design. 

Constructive : in the fine arts, — architecture ; in the industrial 
arts, — ■ varied industries. 

B. — Industrial Phase of the Course in Art. 

[Tlie following includes only forms of industrial work in which : (1) Constructive and 
decorative design and the making of patterns and drawings are required. (2) The nature 
of the work is adapted to present conditions in the common elementary schools.] 

Main Groups. 

1. Phases for study and simple drawings but not offering prob- 

lems suitable for execution in the schoolroom, e.g., civic plans, 
architecture, landscape gardening, interiors. 

2. Phases offering problems suitable for schoolroom construc- 

tion : — 

(a) In weaving, spinning, sewing, embroidery and the allied 
occupations of braiding, knotting, knitting, crocheting, tat- 
ting, — for use in the study of basketry, rug making, lace 
making and the textile industry. 

(b) In measuring, cutting, pasting, gluing, nailing, — for use 
in constructing home and office conveniences from paper and 
cardboard, leather, metals, in stenciling, in box making and in 
bookbinding. 

(c) In modeling, carving and woodworking processes, — for 
use in the study of ceramics, leather modeling, wood carving 
and carpentering. 

C. — Methods. 
Study of any form of art includes : — 

1. Knowledge of technique. 

2. Study of masterpieces. 

3. Original desig-ning. 

4. Creating results. 

Specific steps in industrial work : — 

1. Source, variety and value of material. 

2. Experiments to learn constinietive and decorative possibilities of 

material. 

3. Collections of products: for school museums; for individuals. 

4. Constructive designs for an object the need of which the child 

feels. 

5. Decorative designs for the same, 

6. Selection of material and estimate of cost. 

7. Construction. 

8. Market value of the product. 



16 



2. FiTCHBTJRG. 

The underlymg purpose of manual work in the training department 
is to give the pupil the broadest possible knowledge of tools and mate- 
rials, which shall not only afford manual and mental acti\'ity, but shall 
also, by being closely related to the child's interests in and out of 
school, reveal to him typical phases of the industrial life about him, 
cultivate aesthetic taste and afford large oppoi'tunity for self-expres- 
sion and indi\ddual growth. 

The problems worked out in the class room aim to further " indus- 
trial intelligence," and involve 'such materials as clay, paper and card- 
board, textiles, wood, leather, metal, cement. The work is closely re- 
lated with that in art, mathematics, geography, nature study, etc., and 
constant conference is held with supervisors of these departments and 
others interested in industrial education, in order that the handwork 
shall tend toward the best development of the child in the most practical 
manner possible. Constructive drawing and desigii are carried on 
under the direction of the art department and objects executed in 
manual training classes. In connSction with geography, where indus- 
tries are studied, materials in raw and manufactured form are exam- 
ined and pupils occasionally taken to visit typical industries in the city. 

In nearly all grades objects are made to aid in nature study, geog- 
raphy, history and other subjects. Playtime, too, is considered in the 
construction of toys, games and puzzles. A suggestion of the spirit of 
oar industrial work may be given, possibly, by citing that m some par- 
ticular grade. For instance, in the fall of 1907, in grade VIII., regu- 
lar periods were devoted to di'awing and design each week; likewise to 
shop work by the boys and sewing by tlie girls. In this work, oppor- 
tunity was afforded for individual expression and a higher standard of 
worlonanship appreciated and aimed for by the child than in previous 
grades. The boys' shop work was augnaented by a study of bridge con- 
struction, and various models designed and executed by the children. 
The history of printing having been studied in connection with English, 
the art and manual training departments assist in the construction of a 
booklet. This leads to the construction of a more pretentious book later 
in the year. Metal and leather are manipulated in this year's work 
as well as wood and textiles, and local industries involving these ma- 
terials considered. 

School buildings and the playground offer occasional needs which 
pupils are able to supply, a plant box, umbrella rack and basket-ball 
nets being some of the problems under consideration at the present 
time. Curtains and similar articles are designed and made by the 
girls. These and other outside work are executed by a guild of the 
best workers, and pupils keep records of cost of material, time of labor, 
etc. Although this is a recent experiment, it has proved its worth in 
many ways. Another interesting and recent experiment is that begun 



17 

with a class of children, part of whom are undeveloped, in peiinitting 
thena more than the usual amount of time for manual arts. Home 
work is encouraged and aided in various ways. 

3. Framingham. 

There is work in cardboard construction caiTied on in a systematic 
way from the first grade through the seventh, followed in the eighth 
and ninth by sloyd. 

The second and third gi-ade pupils make rugs and dolls' hammocks, 
and the fourth grade raffia work. The fifth and sixth grades are 
interested in simple basketry, and have made useful articles out of 
burlap and tile matting. The girls in the sixth and seventh grades 
have sewing, and in the eighth and ninth grades they have household 
arts. Among the things made of wood this year by eighth and ninth 
grade boys are the following: match-scratcher, keyboard, inkstand and 
pen tray, tooth-brush holder, bulletin boards, sconce, broom holder, 
brush holder and brush rack. In leather they have made mats and 
penwipers, and in brass, different kinds of trays. 

4. Hyannis. 

Ends to be attained : — ■ 

(a) To be the means of establishing consciously or subconsciously 
a love and respect for honest toil for some useful end. 

(&) To show the value of the three R's, and therefore sen^e as a 
means for reasonable correlation. 

(c) To teach social responsibility and so increase the child's interest 
and share in home duties. 

The manual work may be subdivided into three divisions : — 

1. The garden work, which is given in the second, fourth and eighth 
grades. In this work much correlation is possible with the children 
in arithmetic, geography, nature study. In laying off the garden plots 
the pupils of all grades learn much in using arithmetic. 

2. The basketry and woodwork given in all grades in one form or 
another. Cane seating and footstool making in the sixth and seventh 
grades have given an opportunity to show the intrinsic value of such 
work to the community. 

3. The housekeeping activities, given in the first, third and fourth 
grades. Sewing in the seventh, cooking in the ninth and helping in 
care of rooms in all grades. 

The work begins in the lower grades as play or in making articles 
for the playhouse, and in the upper grades the work is done, as far 
as possible, on real things, serving real needs apparent in the child's 
life. The ninth-grade boys in woodworking are banded together as a 
manufacturing concern, are paid for their products and are making 
real, usable, salable articles. 

The garden work of the eighth grade is of the same kind. Vege- 



18 

tables are raised for sale, while in the lower grades the flowers and 
vegetables are used for home or school. 

The housekeeping activities begin with playhouse conditions in the 
lower gxades and end in real housekeeping activities, in bed making, 
sewing and cooking, in the upper grades. 

It is readily seen that the work undertaken at Hyannis is not ar- 
ranged in any systematic course. We make constant changes in the 
work; we hope to keep to the general principles outlined above. 

5. Lowell. 

The individual work is from gi'ades III. to VI., inclusive, along 
the following lines : — 

Grade III. — Work with raffia apd tile matting, one half hour per 
week. 

Grade IV. — Sewing for boys and girls, one hour per week. 

Grade V. — Sewing for girls and whittlmg for boys, one hour per 
week. 

Grade VI. — Sewing for girls and weaving for boys, one hour per 
week. 

Cooking and bench work for the upper grades to be introduced soon. 

6. North Adams. 

In the Mark Hopkins traming school we begin woodworking in the 
kindergarten, continue it by means of whittling up to bench work, 
which begins in the sixth grade and continues through the ninth. In 
the Idndergarten we begin with large forms of weaving, then by suc- 
cessively smaller material for warj? and woof we continue through the 
primary grades, and finally arrive at sewing in the fourth grade, which 
is continued through the ninth. Decoration becomes a more prominent 
feature during the later years. Paper and cardboard work begins with 
folding and cutting in the kindergarten, and continues in constructive 
lines until box making is reached in the middle grades. A new feature 
which we are introduemg in the grammar grades is the production of 
articles by the division of labor. This will apply to box making, 
woodwork and sewing. We have also set up a kitchen and dming 
room, and are giving instruction to the gii'ls in the eighth and ninth 
grades in the lines of domestic science and art. The State furnishes the 
accommodations, the city the teacher. 

School gardening is going on apace. At present it is confined to the 
kindergarten, first grades and intermediate grades. If our plans for 
extended work are carried out all grades will practise gardening. 

7. Salem. 
The industrial work is based upon the theoiy that the construction 
of every object should result, if possible, from a motive that originates 
with the child in consequence of a recognized need of the individual, 



19 

the home or the school; that the course, therefore, should be very 
flexible; and that it should be progressive in its character, beginning 
with the kindergarten. 

Inasmuch as the school must afford opportunity for observation and 
IDractiee by prospective teachers, many of whom must do their own 
teaching under somewhat unfavorable conditions, care is taken to pro- 
vide only simple equipment, and to undertake but little work that 
cannot be accomplished in the class room of an ordinary school. 

Much attention is given to the development of the power of initia- 
tive; originality is encouraged; the products of the course are practical 
expressions of the instruction in drawing; and the work is closely 
correlated with various other subjects. 

The garden has afforded the motive for much of the bench work. 
This includes flower, vegetable and geography gardens. 

The woodworking at the bench is limited to the boys of the sixth, 
seventh and eighth grades of an eight-year system, and the girls in 
these grades receive practical instruction in sewing. The instruction 
is given by their respective room teachers, and it includes mending, 
plain sewing and the construction of simple articles of clothing. The 
sewing machine is used by the pupils as occasion may require. 

The elementally manual work includes cardboard construction, raffia 
weavmg, jute weaving, the making of bookcase hangings, curtains, 
cushions, etc., leather and metal work. 

Covers have been made for the school work; such objects as arith- 
metic folios, history covers, language covers, etc., have been constructed 
and decorated. 

Christmas work occupies some time each year, and includes the 
making of many useful objects, which necessitate the knowledge of 
constructive drawing, color and design. 

The leather work comprises the making of scissors cases, card cases, 
poeketbooks, blotter covers, pen wijjers, belts, etc. These also are 
made from structural drawings and designs made by the students. 
They require also a knowledge of color and design. 

The weaving includes the making of fans, mats, cushions, rugs, bas- 
kets and a vaiiety of useful objects. The looms, needles, etc., neces- 
sary for the weaving are made in the industrial laboratory; and in 
some eases the necessary apparatus for leather and metal work is con- 
stn;cted by the pupil. 

The outline of the course of study in the manual arts as now pre- 
sented is given in brief form below : — 

Grade I. — Paper cutting of vegetables or fruits. Paper or card- 
board model for Christmas candj' box or cornucopia; decoration for 
same. Paper cutting of stories, toys and objects; aim, a negative and 
positive result from each cutting. Wool weaving of doll's cap, ham- 
mock or rug. 

Grade II. — Freehand paper cutting of fruits or vegetables for the 



20 

construction of a Thanksgiving souvenir. Paper or cardboard model 
for a Cliristmas box; decoration for same. Wool weaving of rug on 
small loom. Geometric forms: square, rectangle, ieircle. Geometric 
terms : vertical, horizontal, diameter, diagonal. Cutting of radial de- 
signs, using these terms. Basket weaving from paper and splints. 

Grade III. — Paper cutting for action and expression. Some gift 
for Christmas (list of options too long to give in full). Macrame 
knotting and jute weaving. Cardboard and raffia problems. 

Grade IV. — Practice in use of compass. Loom of cardboard for 
first-grade weaving. Christmas box or gift based on the circle. Cov- 
ering of a book. Raffia weaving. Some cardboard and paper models 
requiring planning, measuring and pasting. Application of decoration 
to this model. 

Grade V. — Covering a book with paper. Raffia weaving. Paper 
and cardboard work requiring planning, measuring, folding and past- 
ing, such as: blotter pad, magazine cover, portfolio, notebook covers; 
decoration for these models if needed. Simple problems in leather and 
reed. 

Grade VI. — Elements of working drawing and many geometric 
terms. Woodworking: clappers, calendar back, decorated, short dibber 
for school garden, long dibber for school garden, whistle, bean-bag 
board for primary grades, simple articles of apparatus needed by 
other departments of the school. 

Grade VII. — Practice in use of Springfield drawing kit. Simple 
working drawing. Whittling problem. Small loom for use in primary 
and grammar grades. Simple articles needed by other departments 
of the school or the home. Articles for school playground and garden. 
Study of woods used and analysis of objects, to determine kinds of 
lumber used in their construction. 

Grade VIII. — Loom for model school. Large and small needles, 
shuttles and heddles for same. Folding screens for school building. 
Playground fixtures. Study of woods used, practice in selecting woo'ds, 
and analysis of objects, furnishings and finishes. 

8. Westfield. 

The work has been outlined with the definite purpose of meeting the 
demand of child nature for activity, of providing material suitable 
to his age and experience, by means of which he may give expression 
to his ideas, and of bringing into closer relation the school and the 
home. 

The various phases of the work may be summed up as clay work, 
paper folding, free-hand paper cutting, weaving, woodwork and metal 
work. 

The clay work in the lowest grades is modeling objects familiar to 
the child, training hand and eye in expressing ideas of fonn. Li grade 
II. we have the beginnings of pottery, — primitive method of coiled 



21 

bowls. In grade IV. we go a step further and use clay as a definite 
means of design, — tlie paper-weights, tiles, bowls and vase forms 
being glazed and fired, thus giving pennaneney to the child's best 
effort. 

In free-hand cutting we aim to take advantage of the child's in- 
stinctive acti\4ty, and to so dix'ect it that it may do away with aimless 
cutting and may become a means of frank, direct expression of ideas 
gained through interest in stories, games and rhjrmes. It is absolutelj' 
free hand, and each cuttuig shows but two parts — the object cut and 
the place from which it came. By mounting the cuttings on a sheet 
we show that there has been no clipping, to make more perfect. It is 
free story telling with paper and scissors. 

Weavmg begins in the lowest grade, with paper mat weaving of over 
and under weaves; with simple variations, double strip weaving, simple 
loom, in grade II.; with larger loom, more intricate weaving, in grade 
III.; with the use of continuous looms and heddle in grade IV.; ter- 
minating under the name of basketry m grade V. 

In grades VI. and VII. the girls take up sewing, and the boys bench 
work, learning the use of common tools. 

In grade VIII. the girls have cooking, and the boys advanced wood- 
work and metal work, consisting of simple trays and bowls of cojaper. 
In all our work the element of design is an impoi'tant factor; the 
problems are given and the limitations set in the manual training de- 
partment, designed in the class room, under art instructors, and exe- 
cuted in the manual training department. 

We strive for good proportion, jDleasing contour, simple decoration, 
. without sacrificing construction, believing there need be no sei:)aration 
between utility and beauty. 

Boston's Experiment. — In all grades of the grammar scliools 
of Boston there is given at present, for two hours a week, in- 
struction in cooking, sewing, woodworking, cardboard construc- 
tion and clay modeling. E^ot content with this generous pro- 
vision for industrial training in the lower schools, and with the 
excellent vocational training offered in the Mechanic Arts High 
School, High School for Commerce, Girls' High School of 
Practical Arts, free evening drawing schools and vacation 
schools, Boston has during the past year begun an experiment 
which may prove to be of the greatest importance. 

In September of the present year a work shop was opened 
in the Agassiz School district for the accommodation of those 
members of the sixth grade who desired to give one hour a day 
to some form of industrial training, with the provision that 
they would keep up with their regular studies. 



22 

At the same time the school committee accepted the offer of 
the ISTorth Bennet Street Industrial School to take 50 girls from 
the Hancock School and give them industrial training two hours 
of every afternoon throughout the week. Here, too, the girls 
were expected to keep up with their regular studies, having 
some extra individual assistance in some study in the afternoon. 

Of the first of these experiments, Mr. Frank M. Leavitt, 
assistant director of drawing and manual training, writes : — 

Manual tKaining as given in the Boston public schools aims to give 
the pupils a practical knowledge of those fundamental, geometric and 
constructive principles which form the basis of nearly all constructive 
industries. It should be remembered that a large proportion of the in- 
dustrial workers in a State like Massachusetts are engaged in a diversity 
of occupations, many of which will probably never be taught in the 
industrial schools now advocated. These schools will be equipped, more 
or less completely, for giving instruction to machinists, workers em- 
ployed in the building trades, textile workers and shoemakers. It is 
improbable that the trades employing less skilled and a smaller num- 
ber of workers will have the benefit of special trade schools. It there- 
fore follows that the major part of the industrial training will have 
to be given in connection with, or as a part of, the regular manual 
training, and it is believed that the work now being done in cardboard, 
weaving, modeling, woodworking will give the pupils manual power 
and industrial intelligence, which will make them far more efficient 
than pupils who fail to receive such instruction. 

It is felt, however, that too little time is given to this work, and 
especially that it fails to reach, in the right amount, those pupils who 
leave school at the age of fourteen. To meet this condition an exi^eri- 
ment is now being made in the Agassiz School, at Jamaica Plain. 
About one third of the boys in grade VI. have elected to join the 
industrial class, so called. This class spends one hour a day in manual 
training. The product of the work which this class is to do is to be 
not only useful, but is- to be something which is needed, and is to be put 
to actual use. The product must be something which may be produced 
in large quantities. The methods must be practical, and both product 
and method must be subjected to the same commercial tests, as far as 
possible, as apply in actual industries. 

The attention of the boys will be called to common industrial methods 
which are used in real life. For example, the first model selected was 
a paste-board box, several hundred of which are used by the supply 
department; each boy made a single box, after which the class was 
divided into groups and an explanation was given of the greater 
economy of emplojnng industrial methods. Jigs were made for facili- 



23 

fating some of the operations and for securing greater uniformity in 
the product. Each group performed one of the several operations 
involved in the making of the box or cover; there vc^ere the box cutters, 
cover cutters, stayers, pasters, fitters and gluers; there were those who 
assembled, inspected, packed and counted the boxes, and there were 
those who acted as assistant teachers. By the employment of such 
methods, and especially by continuing at one line of work for a longer 
period than is commonly done in the regailar manual training work, 
the efficiency of the boys is increased greatly. The boys were required 
to keep careful record of time, material and output, and to make com- 
putations based thereon. 

The experiment briefly outlined above is very new and it is early to 
predict results. It is hoped that the training received will itself add 
something to the efficiency of the boys, and it is also hoped that it 
will so attract them to industrial pursuits that they will seek admission 
to more complete industrial courses, which now exist or may be estab- 
lished later. 

It is hoped that this experiment may contribute something of a 
practical nature to the discussion as to the place of industrial training 
in public instruction. 

In observing the working of this experiment, I endeavored to 
answer, to my own satisfaction, certain questions which would 
naturally arise in a change of school program so radical as 
this. 

While I am not certain but that the program suggested in 
another part of this report would be better than this one, I feel 
confident (1) that the pupils are intensely interested in the 
work, ( 2 ) that they are becoming "skilled in remunerative ser- 
vice, (3) that their other studies are not seriously neglected, 
and (4) that the training in industrial work does not create 
in them an undue desire to leave their studies and go to work 
at too early an age. 

The last conclusion was the most difficult one to reach, and 
would perhaps need the testimony of parents and teachers to 
be final. But judging from the answers to questions put to the 
pupils individually, I could but think that the individual work 
taken did not divert their interest from other school studies, 
and would not, therefore, tend to take them from the school. 

Concerning the industrial experiment with the girls of the, 
Hancock School, referred to above, Miss Florence M. Marshall 
writes : — 



24 

We are taking from that school 50 girls, who are either advised 
by Miss Sawtelle, or themselves elect, to spend the afternoon session 
each day at industrial work in place of the regular public school. 
These girls must be thirteen years old or over, and must come from 
the last three grades, — the sixth, seventh and eighth. They come to 
North Bennet Street from tAvo to four each day, and Miss Sawtelle 
has tried to arrange their programs so that they still go on with the 
most essential subjects in the morning, that they may pass from grade 
to grade and graduate with their class. Where this has not been pos- 
sible, we are trying to introduce the kind of work which the girl misses 
in the morning, in connection with her industrial work in the afternoon. 

We are giving the girls sewing, by hand and machine, applied in 
the making of simple garments, house furnishings, etc. ; domestic 
science, which includes cooking, buying, serving, the care of room?, 
dishes, laundry, etc. ; design, particularly in its application to the indus- 
trial work which the girls are doing; textile study, especially emphasiz- 
ing weave, quality, kinds of fabrics, dyes, width, cost, wearing quality, 
etc. Personal hygiene and gyTnnastics are also a part of the after- 
noon's work. 

The plan for co-operation with the public school work is as follows: 
each teacher who sends girls to the industrial school — eight teachers 
in all — is sending me her girls' programs, that I may see just what is 
omitted by the transfer. She is also sending me reports of the weak- 
nesses or difficulties in any study, that I may help to strengthen the 
girl's work at that point. As you will see, it is quite possible to put 
life into the arithmetic when it is applied to purchasing, measuring 
and estimating cost in the making of garments, or to the preparation 
of a meal. In connection with any of our subjects, it is possible to 
introduce some writing and composition, and there is ample oppor- 
tunity, if we are in close touch with the work of the grade, to apply 
the geography and history. 

Instead of breaking up each day into small classes, the groups are 
so arranged that almost the entire period of two hours is given to one 
subject. For instance, the group of girls who take domestic science 
any day sjDends the entire time in that class, as it is felt that not only 
is the interest greater, but that the lesson on close application to one 
thing until it is finished is of importance. 

This gives in a general way the plan for the year's work, and we 
are hoping, by taking the girl at just this period, the year before the 
law allows her to leave school, to interest her to stay in school longer, 
or, when that is not possible, to stimulate her ambition and desire to 
enter a better occupation than would otherwise be possible. 

The problems involved in this second experiment are in some 
respects more difficult to solve than the first, inasmuch as the 
time taken from the regular school exercises is two hours daily 



on 



instead of one. But considering the character and age of the 
children, and the fact that they have extra individual help in 
one of their studies, I can but think that the experiment so 
far as it has been tried is a success. Certainly all forms of the 
industrial work are enjoyed fully by the girls and the results 
in many cases are surprisingly good. So great was their in- 
terest in the work at the time of my visit that they appeared 
willing to spend extra time upon their studies so as to retain 
the privileges of the class. I observed also that in several in- 
stances extra garments were made by the girls at home, for 
themselves and other members of the family. 

Upon the whole, these experiments in Boston, together with 
the work which has been done in Hyannis and elsewhere, ought 
to strengthen us in the conviction that industrial training should 
have a larger place in the elementary school curriculum than 
it has had in the past. To insure success, however, it will be 
necessary to have (1) an abundance of time for all the exer- 
cises of the school, (2) work carefully selected and properly 
adjusted to the needs of the pupils, and (3) the cordial co- 
operation of the teachers and parents. With these conditions 
assured there is reason to believe that the training offered will 
be for the. cultural as well as the vocational well-being of those 
who take it. 

Home Industries. — Among the reports of work accomplished 
in industrial training few show more signs of promise than 
those which refer to home industries, which are promoted by 
the efforts of superintendents, teachers and associations of 
various kinds. The most common form of such industries . is 
gardening, although considerable work is done in garment mak- 
ing and the making of things used in the home. 

The most effective means of arousing an interest in home 
industries is the efficient work done in good industrial courses. 
With successful achievements in school as a spur, many pupils 
plant gardens of their own, cut and mrake garments for members 
of their families, do the necessary repairing in the home and 
make such things as are needed there. Sometimes this home 
work is encouraged by calls for reports, or by an inspection of the 
work accomplished ; and sometimes it is promoted by public 
exhibitions, in which the best work is taken note of. 



26 

Several instances of the promotion of home industries by 
school authorities have come to my notice, two of which I will 
refer to. The first instance is that of a supervisory union of 
three towns, in which the children were urged to carry on the 
home work by the superintendent. Of this effort, Superin- 
tendent Frost of the Georgetown district says : — 

Some six weeks before pai-ents' day I sent mimeograph letters to 
each of the homes, naming the day of exhibition and suggesting lists 
of things to make at home. First, different things to be cooked ; second, 
needlework, embracing crocheting, knitting and embroidery; third, use- 
ful things, embracing a large selection. Manj?^ of the children took 
part and produced things of considerable merit. 

In the fall after this appeal was made there was an exhibi- 
tion of industrial and garden products, which was quite fully 
reported in the local newspaper. The extent of the exhibit may 
be inferred from the fact that more than one hundred articles 
were sent by the pupils of one school alone. 

The second of the examples of home industrial work referred 
to above is that of a small city — Marlborough. This plan was 
started and promoted by the Marlborough School and .Home In- 
dustrial Association, consisting of the members of the school 
committee, members of the Teachers' Association and the super- 
intendent of schools. The aims of the association are " to fur- 
nish the children something interesting, practical, profitable 
and instructive to do during vacation ; to bring them into touch 
with nature and her laws in a sensible way ; to develop the child's 
sense of ownership through natural avenues ; to emphasize the 
dignity of labor ; to develop the desire and ability to make the 
home attractive, pleasant and inspiring; and to bring the home 
and school into more co-operative relations, that the child may 
be benefited by their combined efforts." 

Early in the present year the following lines of work were 
suggested, with the promise of an exhibition in the fall : — 

Group 1. — Flowers : aster, bachelor's button, petunia, candytuft, 
four-o'clock, marigold, scabiosa, morning glory, nasturtium, phlox, 
China pinks, verbena, zinnia, portulaca. Children may select from 
this list. 

Group 2. — Vegetables : beets, beans, caiTots, lettuce, squash, radishes, 
turnips and sweet corn. 






27 

Group 3. — Cooking : white bread, brown bread, common cake, light 
or dark (not more than two eggs to a cake), cookies, pies, preserves 
and jellies. 

Group 4. — Sewing : any article selected from the mannal training 
course in sewing, nai:)kins, tray cloths, dish towels, doilies, handker- 
chiefs, sofa pillows and dressed dolls. 

Group 5. — Woodwork : any article listed in the manual training 
course, models of bird houses, single or double sleds, carts, wheelbar- 
rows, tables, chairs, and any other model of wood that shows ingenuity 
and good workmanship. 

Group 6. — Miscellaneous : any article of any material that shows 
thought, originality and good workmanship. This gi'oup allows the 
child to work up any article in which he is particularly interested. 

Rules and limitations for carrying on the work and for the 
inspection of results were made and sent out early in the year, 
the privilege being offered to pupils of grades IV. to VIII., in- 
clusive. 

Of the results, Superintendent Morton writes as follows : — 

Of 1,300 children in the grades mentioned in the pamphlet, about 
1,000 were anxious to participate. Each selected the particular lines 
along which he wished to work. The boys were encouraged to make 
working drawings or to cut patterns of the articles to be made; the 
girls drew designs for much of the needlework. 

Seven thousand eighty-three pennj' packets of seeds were sold to 
those who wished to plant gardens. The children selected the plots, 
measured them and drew plans to a scale. These gardens were planted 
and cared for by the children, under the supervision of teachers and 
parents. These visits to the homes brought the teachers, parents and 
children together on a common plane of usefulness, which has been of 
great value to both school and home. 

An exhibition was held in September. Although the hall is quite 
large, the articles had to be crowded in order to get all into the space 
assigned. With this compact arrangement there were 75 feet of 3-foot 
tables covered with flowers, S5 feet of similar tables covered with 
vegetables, 35 feet covered with woodwork, 55 feet devoted to cooking, 
20 feet devoted to miscellaneous articles and 675 square feet of wall 
space covered Avith needlework. 

Much interest was manifested in the work and the exhibition. I 
think fully 2,000 people visited the hall during the afternoon and even- 
ing. We intend to continue these lines of work during the present 
year. I shall hold meetings of parents during the coming mouths, 
to discuss the work, and hope to have the association include the school 
committee, all of the teachers and a large number of the parents. 



28 

School Furnishings and Repairs. — l^ot the least valuable 
part of industrial training in the schools is the work which 
grows out of the direct needs of the school, such as are included 
in the ordinary furnishings of the schoolroom and in the appara- 
tus for teaching arithmetic and elementary science. The mak- 
ing of needed repairs of the school buildings also serves as a 
means of applying to good advantage the industrial skill of the 
pui^ils. I have observed the results of this work as well as the 
work itself. I have realized the great use of this form of train- 
ing as a means both of instilling in the children a true spirit of 
service and of leading them to acquire skill. 

Among the school furnishings which I have seen the children 
at work upon are looms, boxes, pen trays, book racks, sand 
tables, screens, shelves, card racks, and the various means of 
teaching the ordinary branches, including wigwams, houses and 
apparatus for teaching physics. 

Several schools have made a complete doll's house of large size, 
the furnishings of which were contributed by the various classes. 

In one exhibit of pupil's work in a country school was a model 
house, the construction of which had involved problems in car- 
pentering, plastering and papering. 

Referring to this kind of work, Superintendent Chace of the 
Tewksbury district writes : — 

The boys of one school have constructed some rude furniture for the 
use of children who ate their dinners at the school building. Another 
school cleaned its yard of hundreds if not thousands of stones, and 
the work thus begun resulted in the blasting of rocks, grading of the 
lawn, planting of shrubbery, etc., by the town, and some splendid 
examples of good citizenship on the part of a few individuals in the 
community. Another school iDlanted some wild shrubs obtained from the 
woods. It may be best to state that nearly all of these shrubs lived. 
Several schools planted flowers about the school gTounds. One of our 
schools is hemming towels for the use of the children in the building, 
and another is making some for the use of a primaiy school whose 
pupils are too young to do the work. 

Superintendent Chace closes his report with this significant 
statement : — 

We are not doing much — not nearly so much as I believe we ought 
— but I hope we shall continue to make a slow, healthy growth that 



29 

shall retain the right spirit of industrial work, so far as we are able 
to understand what the tiiie spirit is. 

This word of caution relating to the industrial training of a 
few schools is most timely and important for all, especially at a 
time when people and schools are so eager to make work with 
the hands a part of general education. The great danger at 
present lies in aimlessness and superficialness of effort, both in 
the projection and in the carrying out of the work. Above every 
other consideration there should be inculcated in this early train- 
ing a true spirit of service. To this should be added an insist- 
ence upon the gTeatest skill and efficiency of which the children 
are capable. Thus will be furnished a good preparation for life 
in general, and a good foundation for the vocational training 
which may be taken later. 

Special Classes. 

In many of the cities and larger towns special classes are 
formed for the instruction of those pupils who are unable to 
do the work required in any of the regular classes. These 
pupils need for the most part individual help, and, therefore, 
the classes are limited in number, — generally to 20 or 25 
pupils. Of the advisability of forming such classes in the 
larger grammar schools there can be no question. 

There is another class of children — the retarded or mentally 
defective children — for whom special provision should be made 
wherever the numbers will warrant it. The putting of these 
children with normal-minded children is an injustice to both 
classes, — to the former because they cannot get the individual 
attention which they need and to the latter because their prog- 
ress is necessarily retarded. 

To secure the best results it is necessary (1) to provide teach- 
ers especially qualified to teach this class of children, (2) to 
furnish means for the right kind of physical and manual exer- 
cises and (3) to limit the number of pupils for each teacher to 
10 or 15. These conditions, so far as I have observed, have 
been quite fully met wherever the plan of local schools has been 
tried here in Massachusetts. In Boston seven special classes 
have been formed ; in Worcester, three ; in ISTewton, two ; and in 



30 



Springfield, one. So beneficial have these special classes proved 
that they should be considerably extended in all the larger 
places. 

Specialists differ materially in their estimate of the number 
of mental defectives who need separate and special treatment; 
but it is safe to say that every city or town having 2,000 chil- 
dren is likely to have exceptional children enough for the forma- 
tion of a special class. There may be some of the mentally de- 
fective children who cannot be cared for properly in the local 
school. These children should be placed in a separate institu- 
tion for the feeble-minded. There are also likely to be some 
parents of mentally defective children who, for one reason or 
another, refuse to allow their children either to go into an in- 
stitution or to attend a special local school. It is a question 
whether the education of all mental defectives, including physi- 
cal as well as mental defectives, should not be obligatory, and 
whether the State should not take charge of them, with or with- 
out the parents' consent. 

Schools for Tkttants. 
Name and Location of Schools. — Some of the counties of 
the Commonwealth are obliged by law to support a school for 
habitual truants, habitual absentees and habitual school of- 
fenders. The names and locations of these schools and the 
names of the superintendents are as follows : — 



Superintendent. 



Essex County Training School, 
Hampden Countj' Truant School, . 
Middlesex County Truant School, 

Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth 

Union Truant School. 
Boston Parental School • (Suffolk 

County). 
Worcester County Training School, 



Lawrence, 

Springfield, . 

North Chelmsford, 

Walpole, 

West Roxbury, . 

Oakdale, 



W. Grant Fancher. 
Erwin G. Ward. 
M. A. Warren. 
James H. Craig. 
D. P. Dame. 
S. P. Streeter. 



1 Under the law, commitments from Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop, in SuffoUv County, 
must be to tlie truant school for the county of Middlesex. 



31 



The counties not named above are exempted by law from 
maintaining truant schools of their own, but the county com- 
missioners of each of the exempted counties are required to 
assign an established truant school as a place of commitment. 
The places designated by the several county commissioners are 
as follows : — 



COHNTT. 


Location of assigned 
truant school. 


County. 


Location of assigned 
truant school. 


Barnstable, 
Berkshire, 
Dukes, 


Monson. 

Springfield. 

Walpole. 


Franklin, 
Hampshire, . 
Nantucket, 


North Chelms- 
ford. 

North Chelms- 
ford. 



The different ways of meeting the requirements of a law 
with no penalty attached are shown by these counties, two of 
which have designated a school but have sent no children to it, 
one persists each year in designating a school abolished twelve 
years ago, and one has not gone to the trouble of even naming a 
school. 

Cities and Towns re'presented. — The cities and towns from 
which present members of each school were committed^ are as 
follows : — 





Essex County School. 




Beverly, 
Georgetown, 
Gloucester, 
Haverhill, . 


. 9 

. 1 

. 4 

. . 7 


Manchester, 
Marblehead, 

Peabody, . 
Salem, 


. 1 
. 2 
. 4 
. 1 


Lawrence, . 


. 40 


Saugus, 


. 2 


Lynn, . 


. 50 







Number of towns unrepresented in the school at the present time. 



23 



Hampden County School. {Assigned school for Berkshire County.) 



Chicopee, . 
Holyoke, . 
North Adams, 



Pittsfield, . 
Springfield, 
West Si^ringfield, 



Number of towns in Hampden County unrepresented. 
Number of towns in Berkshire County unrepresented, 



9 

12 

2 

19 
30 



32 



Middlesex County ScJiool. 
shire counties and for 
County.) 

Ashland, 

Cambridge, 

Chelsea, 

Everett, 

Groton, 

Hudson, 

Holliston, . 

Lowell, 

Marlborough, 

Medford, . 

Natick, 



{Assigned school for Franklin and Hamp- 
Clielsea, Revere and Winthrop, in Suffolk 



1 

59 

1 
1 
1 
1 
66 
3 
1 
1 



Newton, 

North Reading, 

Reading, . 

Revere, 

Somerville, 

Wakefield, 

Walthani, . 

Ware, 

Watertown, 

Wilmington, 

Winchester, 



Number of towns in Middlesex County unrepresented, 
Number of towns in Franklin County unrepresented. 
Number of towns in Hampshire County unrepresented, 
Number of towns in Suftblk County unrepresented, 



4 
1 
1 

14 
1 
5 
3 
2 
1 
1 

34 

26 

22 

1 



Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth Union School. (Assigned school for 



Dukes County.) 



Brookline, . 
Norwood, . 
Weymouth, 

Attleborough, 
Fall River, 
Mansfield, . 



3 
2 

2 

1 

7 
1 


New Bedford, 
North Altlebor 
Rehoboth , . 
Taunton , . 


ough , 


. 25 

2 
, 1 
. 5 


Brockton, . 




. 8 



Number of towns in Norfolk County unrepresented , 
Number of towns in Bristol County inirepresented. 
Number of towns in Plymouth County unrepresented. 
Number of towns in Dukes County unrepresented, 



26 
13 
26 

7 



Boston, 



Boston Parental School. {Suffolk County.) 



243 



Fitchburg, . 
Lancaster, . 
Lunenburg, 



Worcester County School. 

. 2 Sterling, . 
1 Worcester, 
1 



1 
46 



Number of towns in the county unrepresented, 



54 



33 

Bringing these numbers together, we find that there are SY 
towns which are at j)resent represented in the truant schools 
and 297 which are not. In trying to account for this great 
disparity of numbers here, we might naturally infer that the 
towns sending pupils to these schools are constantly changing; 
but reports show that they are nearly the same from year to 
year, and that there are many towns which rarely or never use 
this means of checking truancy. A recent inquiry reveals the 
fact that 269 cities and towns of the Commonwealth have had 
no pupils in the truant schools during the past five years, and 
l^resumably most of these never were represented there. 

These facts alone may be somewhat misleading. While it is 
true that temptations to truancy and other forms of juvenile 
delinquency are not so great in small country towns as in cities 
and large towns, there are some cities and many large towns 
which never send children to a truant school. It might be in- 
ferred that in these towns the home and school conditions are 
so good that there is no truancy, or none that needs a resort to 
law; but when we examine the conditions there, we find them 
no better than the conditions of other towns. Again, the infer- 
ence might be made that towns which send no pupils to the 
truant schools use other means allowed by law to correct tru- 
ancy, — the prosecution of parents and guardians ; but there 
were only five of such prosecutions last year, and three of 
these were towns which committed children to truant schools. 
Finally, we are forced to the conclusion that in some towns 
there is lack of interest and effort in the enforcement of school 
attendance laws and an unwillingness to send boys to the 
truant school, partly, perhaps, on account of expense and partly 
from fear of contamination or disgrace. 

Doubtless many present faults and differences in matters re- 
lating to school attendance will disappear when the common 
schools everywhere offer a j^roper amount of attractive indus- 
trial training, when parents are held responsible for the con- 
stant and regular attendance of children in school, when local 
officials are aided by State attendance officers, when all young 
delinquents are taken in charge by the State and placed in 
good homes, and when the expense attending the care of all 
delinquent children devolves upon the State. 



34 



Buildings. — To meet the purposes for which these schools 
are established, the Middlesex County School has by far the 
best buildings and equij)ment. There are here six buildings in 
all. Three of these buildings are used for home and school pur- 
poses, and one for industrial classes and schoolrooms. 

The new brick building for the Essex County School, re- 
ferred to in my last report, is now completed and occupied. 
The increased number of pupils makes it necessary for the old 
building to be used for dormitory purposes. 

The promised building for girls in the Boston Parental School 
is now ready for occupancy. It has accommodations for 15 or 
20 pupils, but only 6 are there at present. The so-called " tem- 
porary " buildings, which have for several years been used by 
this institution for school ^^i^rposes, are still in existence. That 
they should be replaced by one or more buildings having suit- 
able schoolrooms is beyond question. The present rooms are 
inconvenient, unsightly and unsanitary. 

Number of Pupils and their Offences. — The following tables 
show the number of boys in attendance upon the various schools 
and the offences for which they were committed : — 



Table sliowing the number of pupils attending, and number of 
pupils admitted and discharged during tlte year. 



Location of countt schools. 


Number at 

beginning 

of year. 


Number 

admitted 

during the 

year. 


Number 

discharged 

during the 

year. 


Number 
at close of 
the year. 


Lawrence, 

Springfield, 

North Chelmsford, 

Waljjole, 

West Roxbury, .... 
Oakdale, 


93 

21 
157 

62 
243 

54 
630 


45 

37 
101 

46 
239 

30 
498 


23 
19 
78 
50 
239 
33 


115 
39 

180 
58 

243 
51 


Totals, 


442 


686 



35 



Table showing the number of children committed to truant schools 
as habitual truants, absentees and school offenders, and the 
number released for various reasons, during the year. 



LOCATION OF 
COUNTY SCHOOLS. 


Ndmbbk committed dpbing 

THE YEAR. 


NDMBEK released D0RING 
THE YEAR. 


As habitual 
truants. 


As habitual 
abseutees. 


As school 
offenders or 
delinquents. 


At expi- 
ration of 
term. 


On proba- 
tion and 
pardoned. 


Sent 

to Lyman 

school. 


Lawrence, . 
Springfield, . 
North Chelmsford, 
Walpole, 
West Roxbury, 
Oakdale, 


38 
33 
78 
27 
219 
30 


5 

4 

6 

' 13 

5 


2 

6 

6 

15 


3 
3 

1 
23 
15 

3 


17 

18 
76 
27 
223 
30 


3 
1 

1' 


Totals, . 


425 


33 


29 


48 


391 


5 



1 Sent to Suffolk School for Boys. 



It will be seen from the above figures that three of the schools 
— the Lawrence, Springfield and l^orth Chelmsford schools — 
have increased their membership considerably during the past 
year, while the membership of the other three schools has re- 
mained about the same. The increase of commitments in almost 
every case is from cities, due perhaps to increased efficiency in 
the prosecution of offenders. 

Releases. — The number of releases on probation is much 
greater in most of the schools than last year, while there has 
been in the same time a marked decrease in the number of 
boys kept in school to the expiration of the term for which they 
were sentenced. This is due, no doubt, to the fact that most of 
the recent sentences have been for an indefinite period. 

The plan of indefinite sentence and release upon probation 
appears to be working well. The superintendents of the schools 
are a unit in their approval of the plan. In all the schools the 
boys are released on the basis of conduct, determined in most 
cases by a kind of " merit system." Thus in the Hampden 
County School the following method is pursued : — 



86 

1. Each boy shall be given 4,000 merits to earn on entering the 
school. Each week a boy shall be entitled to 100 merits, or such part 
thereof as, in the judgment of the superintendent, the boy's conduct, 
effort and industry shall entitle him. 

2. In estimating the number of merits to which the boy shall be 
entitled his conduct, effort and industry, both in school and outside of 
school, shall be considered. 

3. A boy returned from probation shall be given 5,000 merits (o 
earn, in place of 4,000. 

4. Any boy running away, or attempting to do so, shall forfeit all 
the merits he shall then have earned, and the superintendent may im- 
pose upon such boy additional merits to be earned, not exceeding 2,000, 
together with such other punishment as in his judgment shall seem 
necessary. 

The Boston Parental School has a plan by which pupils are 
expected to get 2,500 merits before a release is recommended 
by the superintendent. Under this plan it is possible for a boy 
to secure release in six months. 

In the Essex County School the plan as reported is " that 
the boys must attain a certain standard in deportment and make 
good progress in their school work. Then the matter of parole 
is considered by the commissioners, superintendent and matron, 
and, if approved, we then ask for the approval of the judge and 
the superintendent of schools from the city or town sending 
the boy. With their consent he is released upon parole." 

There is no doubt that releases on probation should be per- 
mitted only on merit, but whether that is best determined by 
the plan of marking most generally followed in these schools 
is a question. In several instances during the past year I noted 
what appeared to me to be arbitrary and unjust methods of 
marking, as, for example, when a slight infraction of a rule 
caused a boy to lose all the credits he had obtained by two 
days' perfect conduct. It is, I believe, folly to advise or allow 
officers and teachers to follow a fixed schedule of marking 
offences, each offence to have a certain mark. Officials poor 
in sympathy and weak in control will be sure to abuse their 
privilege to the point of actual tyranny. Under such circum- 
stances boys lose all respect for authority, or even for justice 
itself, and so become less rather than more ready for citizen- 
ship when they go out into the world. 



87 



Period of MemhersJiip. — The length of time during which 
boys remained in the various schools is shown by the following 
table : — 



Table showing the time of service of hoys in the various schools. 



Schools. 


Longest time 

served by any 

pupil 

(months). 


Shortest time 

servecl by any 

pupil 

(months). 


Average time 
of service 
(months). 


Lawrence, 

Springfield, . , 
North Chelmsford, 

Walpole, 

West Roxbury, .... 
Worcester, 


27.5 . 

22.8 

39 

29 

43.6 

26 


18 

.7 
7 
3 

.2 
4 


23.5 
15 

14.9 

12.9 

9.1 



Occupations. - — The time spent in work and recreation in 
the various schools is shown in the following table. It should 
be said that the times given are approximate only, there being 
a difference of time between the occupations of the younger 
and those of the older children, also in the occupations of dif- 
ferent seasons of the vear. 



Taljle showing the average number of hoiirs spent daily in various 

occupations. 



COUNTT SCHOOLS. 


Household 

and outdoor 

duties. 


School 
duties ex- 
cept manual 
training. 


Manual 

training 

(average). 


Meals and 
recreation. 


Lawrence, .... 
Springfield, .... 
North Chelmstord, 
Walpole, .... 
West Roxbury, 
Oakdale, .... 


U-5 

5» 

1-5 « 

3-4 


3 

4/o 
3-511 

4| 

41 

5 




6 

3^51 

4 
21-4 
4^71 



1 The youngest boys have two sessions. 

2 Younger boys have no householrt duties. 



38 

Regular school sessions are held in all the schools, there being 
one session of three hours in one school and two sessions in all 
the others. In one school, jSTorth Chelmsford, the older pupils 
alone have one session. 

The course of studies pursued is in general the same as the 
course ordinarily pursued in grammar and primary schools, 
the purpose being to have the boys keep along with the regular 
studies so that they may rejoin their classes upon their return 
home. 

The table shows a great difference of time given to manual 
training in the various schools. The difference in kind is 
quite as great. In two of the schools only is the work in this 
department at all adequate to the needs of this class of boys. 
Even in these schools the industrial feature of the course is 
not emphasized as much as many persons advise, especially 
that which is provided for the older boys. But in the other 
four schools — two of which have absolutely no manual train- 
ing • — • the boys have no training which will be of any assistance 
to them either in learning a trade or in creating a desire to 
learn one. 

Some of the replies to my question put to the older boys, 
as to what they expected to do when they left the truant school, 
were most patlietic. One boy, who was to leave when sixteen, 
said he did not know what he should or could do. He had 
learned nothing, he said, but some housework and farm work, 
but he was not sure that any one would want to hire a boy for 
either. Further inquiry brought out the fact that even in these 
occupations his range of work had been too narrow to be of 
special service to him as a workman. It is a crying shame 
that such a boy — and he is a type of many — could be held 
in an institution for three or four years and then be set adrift 
in the world, with no more means of helping himself than he 
had when he entered the institution. 

In this criticism of neglect I am only repeating what has 
been said by one agent or another of the Board in nearly every 
report upon these schools during the past eight years. It may 
be held by those who are responsible for this condition of affairs 
that all these adverse criticisms happen to come from those 
who hold the same extreme notions concerning industrial train- 



39 

iiig. I3ut I veiitiirc the opinion that there is not one person 
in the country at all prominent in educational or charitable 
work who does not say that the most important part of the 
education of this class of children is instruction and training 
on industrial lines in the direction of learning a trade, and who 
is not surprised that there are schools for truants here in 
Massachusetts which offer no help in this direction. 

The Probation System. — The returns show that 378 boys 
in all w^ere released on probation from the schools during the 
past year, and that of this number 112 were returned to the 
schools. Of the number returned, 90 belonged to the Boston 
Parental School, 11 to ISTorth Chelmsford, 4 to Lawrence, 3 
to Springfield, 1 to Walpole and 3 to Oakdale. 

The fact that so many children were returned to the schools, 
presumably because they had broken their parole, might be 
regarded as an argument against the probation system if all 
the circumstances were not considered. I have not been able 
to ascertain the cause of the return of all the children, but 
from the investigations I have made I judge that in a large 
proportion of cases failure to keep the terms of parole was 
due to poor home influences. When there is no mother or no 
father in the home, or when the influence of either mother or 
father is distinctly bad, it cannot be expected that the child can 
in one or even in two trials correct fully the bad habits which 
he has been permitted to acquire. 

This is the cause of the forced retention in the schools of 
many children who have by the merit system gained credits 
enough to warrant their release, but who have no good homes 
to which they can go. This difliculty is voiced by Superin- 
tendent Warren, of the Middlesex School, in his report of this 
year to the commissioners. He says : — 

There is danger of a home school of this kind becoming an asylum 
for homeless children. It is my opinion that a boy should not be kept 
here because he is homeless, or because he may become a subject of 
charity. I would recommend that your Board seek such legislation as 
will permit you to place these children at board in private families 
until sixteen years of age, when in your judgment it would be better 
for the child, the expenses to be paid by the city or town from which 
the child is committed. Either this, or allow us to transfer to the care 



40 

of the State Board of Charity these homeless boys, some of them 
mentally weak by inheritance. 

All this suggests the plans recommended in my last report, 
two features of which were (1) the early apprehension of 
school delinquents who have no proper care, and the placing 
of them in good homes, and (2) the plan of rigidly holding the 
parent accountable for the delinquency of his child by a rea- 
sonable system of fining. 

That the proposed plan of fining has not yet been fairly 
tried is shown by the fact that only five prosecutions of parents 
were reported in the returns from superintendents of schools 
recently called for. So far as these prosecutions of parents 
prove anything, they prove that the holding of the parent 
accountable for his child's presence in school is both feasible 
and wise. In three of the five cases of prosecution referred 
to the parents were placed upon probation by the judge, and in 
every case satisfactory improvement was brought about without 
the imposition of a fine. 

Recommendations. — In my last report I made detailed 
recommendations in the direction of a complete reorganization 
of plans for the treatment of juvenile delinquents and offenders. 
Knowing how difficult it is to make radical changes of organi- 
zation, I will content myself with offering a few suggestions 
for improving these schools as they are at present organized. 

In making these recommendations I am not unmindful of 
the fact that nearly every one of them involves increased cost 
of maintenance. Very likely the cost of maintenance would be 
doubled by the adoption of all the suggestions proposed. But 
so far as the suggestions are wise, the extra expense is in the 
interests of future citizenship, and, therefore, should not be 
considered. At present the expense per capita is so small — 
in some instances but a little more than two dollars a week 
— • that there may well be a suspicion in some minds that the 
schools are managed more in the interests of economy than 
for the educational or moral welfare of the children. The 
recommendations, some of which I have already referred to, 
are : — 

1. That the buildings be inspected by the State Board of 



41 

Health, with the view of ascertaining whether the schoolrooms 
and dormitories are properly ventilated. 

2. That the school day be lengthened to six hours for all 
the pupils, one hour and a half or two hours of which to be 
devoted to physical and industrial training. 

3. That during the time that the school is in session the 
time for household and farm work be limited to two or three 
hours a day, and that there be such a rotation of duties in that 
work as to make it useful as a means of training. 

4. That there be a skilled supervisor over all the schools, 
to advise in the selection of teachers, to lay out the work of 
the schools and to advise and direct as to methods of teaching. 

5. That those persons only be appointed as teachers who 
are by personal sympathy, patience and professional ability 
especially fitted to teach this class of children. 

6. That the greatest care be taken in the selection of the 
pupils' books, particularly in the selection of books for reading 
out of school hours. 

Special Schools foe Defectives and Delinquents. 

I have had the privilege of continuing my visits of inspection 
upon those institutions which include schools for the deaf, blind 
and feeble-minded and reformatories for boys and girls. I 
regard such service as a privilege, because it affords an oppor- 
tunity to observe some interesting educational processes and of 
bringing me in contact Avith men and women whose lives are 
devoted to the great work of helping the weak and imfortunate 
to help themselves. 

While the ideals and methods of these people are probably 
as varied as are those of other educational workers, it is but 
just to say that the work done by them is, on the whole, well 
done, and that the interests of the State as well as those of the 
pupils themselves appear to be amply protected. 

The reports of all these institutions will be found in Ap- 
pendix F. 

Respectfully submitted, 

JOHN T. PEINCE. 

Dec. 31, 1907. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



ilillHI 

019 876 364 



L 



